Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins preceded the first Ashes Test staged outside England [Images] and Australia [Images] with the Welsh anthem Land of my Fathers on Wednesday.

The Cardiff stadium is the world's 100th Test venue, the ninth in Britain and the first in Wales.

Wales introduced anthems to rugby union, the country's national sport, in 1905 when the Welsh side played New Zealand [Images] at Cardiff Arms Park.

The players decided to counter the All Blacks' haka (Maori war dance) by singing Land of my Fathers. The crowd joined in, Wales won the match, and a tradition was born.

The Welsh capital greeted the influx of visitors on Wednesday with signs reading "South Wales welcomes New South Wales".

A headline on the front page of the morning daily newspaper Western Mail read: "As Wales welcomes the Ashes we say COME ON ENGLAND (and it's not very often you see that on the front page of this paper)."

Wales first minister Rhodri Morgan, who met both teams before the start of play on Wednesday, alluded to the sometimes fraught relations between a small, proud principality and its neighbour when he welcomed the Australian team on Monday.

"Anyone who understands the tangled history of the United Kingdom will appreciate the delicious irony of this England home game played in Cardiff, capital of Wales," he said.

Ancient rivalries between England and Wales were put to one side on Wednesday morning. Instead 16,000 spectators settled down to enjoy one of the world's oldest sporting contests with England attempting to win back the Ashes from its former colony.